Abstract
Chlorophyll f is a new type of chlorophyll isolated from cyanobacteria. The absorption and fluorescence characteristics of chlorophyll f permit these oxygenic-photosynthetic organisms to thrive in environments where white light is scarce but far-red light is abundant. To explore the ligand properties of chlorophyll f and its energy transfer profiles we established two different in vitro reconstitution systems. The reconstituted peridinin-chlorophyll f protein complex (chlorophyll f-PCP) showed a stoichiometry ratio of 4:1 between peridinin and chlorophyll f, consistent with the peridinin:chlorophyll a ratio from native PCP complexes. Using emission wavelength at 712 nm, the excitation fluorescence featured a broad peak at 453 nm and a shoulder at 511 nm confirming energy transfer from peridinin to chlorophyll f. In addition, by using a synthetic peptide mimicking the first transmembrane helix of light-harvesting chlorophyll proteins of plants, we report that chlorophyll f, similarly to chlorophyll b, did not interact with the peptide contrarily to chlorophyll a, confirming the accessory role of chlorophyll f in photosystems. The binding of chlorophyll f, even in the presence of chlorophylls a and b, by PCP complexes shows the flexibility of chlorophyll-protein complexes and provides an opportunity for the introduction of new chlorophyll species to extend the photosynthetic spectral range.
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Abbreviations
- Arg:
-
Arginine
- Asn:
-
Asparagine
- Chl:
-
Chlorophyll
- PS:
-
Photosystem
- Glu:
-
Glutamate
- His:
-
Histidine
- H. hongdechloris :
-
Halomicronema hongdechloris
- LHC:
-
Light-harvesting complex
- PCP:
-
Peridinin-chlorophyll-protein
- X:
-
Unknown amino acid
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Australia Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis (CE140100015).
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Hernández‐Prieto, M.A., Hiller, R. & Chen, M. Chlorophyll f can replace chlorophyll a in the soluble antenna of dinoflagellates. Photosynth Res 152, 13–22 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-021-00890-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-021-00890-8